Flood victims wait for reconstruction assistance

Affectees feel govt purposely delayed payments so they can be given closer to election time

KARACHI:

Despite the two surveys that have been conducted to gauge who needs financial assistance to rebuild their homes, the Sindh government has failed to disburse any cash and now a third survey is on the cards, much to the dismay of flood affectees.

In a ceremony held in Karachi earlier this month, which was attended by Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Foreign Minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, along with representatives of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), it was announced that the provincial government would now start distributing funds for the reconstruction of houses. However, despite the passage of two weeks, the promised funds are nowhere to be seen, which has irked many affectees.

One such victim is Abdul Rasheed, from Larkana, who believes that the promise of rehabilitation funds is another empty promise of the Sindh government. “It has been six months since the floods destroyed our home and we have been living in a makeshift hut since then. The government keeps on saying it will give us money for reconstruction but they have done two surveys and still not given us anything,” Rasheed lamented, adding that it seemed that the government was in no hurry to provide assistance.

Rehmatullah Barohi, from Sukkur, had a similar bone to pick with the provincial government. “We have spent months in the hope that the PPP government will start distributing funds any moment but it seems that they do not care about our plight,” said a visibly distraught Barohi. “I feel that the PPP is purposely delaying the distribution of funds so that they can disburse it closer to election time and secure their vote bank.”

Muhammad Bakhsh Jamali, a flood victim from Sajawal, agrees with Barohi’s logic. “The government does not care about us, they just want to come back in power. Therefore, they will compensate us closer to the general election so that we can thank them by voting for them.”

It is not just flood affectees who feel that the PPP will distribute funds closer to the election period. “The ruling party knows that its popularity is severely dented so it will use the rehabilitation funds to garner support,” opined Arif Mustafa Jatoi, Member of the Sindh Assembly from the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA). Jatoi further added that this was not a trick as the PPP had also promised to provide seeds to farmers whose crops were devastated “but it seems that promise will also be fulfilled when elections are on the horizon.”

However, Sana Khoja, Spokesperson of the Sindh Peoples Housing for Flood Affectees, said that all the rumours surrounding the reconstruction disbursements were not true. “The only reason the financial assistance has been delayed is because many people do not have bank accounts. Therefore, we are trying to distribute the money in phases to ensure transparency,” Khoja explained. When pressed to give an exact timeline on the financial assistance, Khoja told The Express Tribune that the large-scale distribution of money for reconstruction was expected to start after May of this year.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2023.